IDF sees slight decrease in complaints of alleged abuse, incompetence by commanders toward subordinates

Israel’s military ombudswoman publishes an annual report on complaints of alleged abuse, negligence, and incompetence by commanders toward their subordinates.

The report by Brig. Gen. (res.) Rachel Tevet-Wiesel, known formally as the chief complaints officer, who works out of the Defense Ministry, includes thousands of complaints from conscripts, career soldiers, and reservists. The number of complaints has remained relatively stable in recent years.

The 189-page report is presented to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and to the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as well as senior officers in the IDF.

Over the course of 2023, the ombudswoman’s office received 5,749 complaints from Israeli troops or their parents, a five percent decrease from the previous year. Tevet-Wiesel’s office reviewed each of the cases, finding that the majority of them — 54% — were legitimate, with the rest dismissed as false or trivial.

Reservists made up 712 of the complaints, an increase of 30% over last year, mostly due to the ongoing war as nearly 300,000 reservists were called up for duty.

The ombudswoman found that most of the 1,316 complaints during the first three months of the war (October-December) were reservists seeking to return to duty after receiving exemptions, asking to be moved to a combat unit, and complaints about compensation, R&R, and being dismissed from roles.

In the first month of the war, reservists’ complaints were mostly regarding lack of equipment, living conditions issues, and assistance for the partners of soldiers who were killed, the ombudswoman’s office finds.

As they do every year, the complaints also deal with cases of physical and verbal abuse, soldiers failing to receive proper medical care, bureaucratic inefficiencies and poor conditions.

Responding to the report, the military thanks the ombudswoman and says it will help the IDF improve on the issues it highlights.